Tyvek house wrap without logos defacing it?

It looks like they all want to plaster their name all over it. I've seen some folk install white house wrap reversed but the printing still shows through.

I'm looking to an alternate use where it won't be covered by siding and so trying to find some that has nothing printed on either side. I have seen some dull grey house wrap in my travels that didn't have any printing showing but don't know if they simply reversed it or not.

I have a screened in gazebo that I'd like to wrap up for the Winter so that snow doesn't drift into it. I don't want to use plastic because it doesn't breathe. My first thought is that white would blend in with the snow yet allow light into the gazebo. The cedar gazebo is stained grey so grey might be a better choice even if it didn't allow as much light through. I also have a lattice screened woodshed in the same colour that I have a problem with snow drifting in.

I've seen shiny silver foil lined stuff but that would stand out way too much. Anyone know of unprinted tyvek house wrap and if so, what brand and who sells it?

Sounds like you really just need it to block the snow from drifting in. If that's the case, I have a roll of grey ground soil control stuff, so some of that may be available in your area. The stuff is hard to tear, so should hold up at least for one season. No idea how it is to UV, but you don't have as much through the winter as you do in the summer, where you'd be taking it down anyway.

I have seen and worked with geotextile fabric of two different types. One was a white spun "filter cloth" that was similar to frost cloth only much tougher. The other was a tough black woven cloth. I have not seen it in grey.

A concern I have of a hydroscopic cloth like frost cloth or geotextile fabric is that it will be right up against the wood siding of the gazebo and I don't want moisture there. House wrap on the other hand is hydrophobic so would repel water and at the same time let any trapped moisture escape.

Here is a pic of my gazebo. I have also considered simply making window inserts from plywood and stain it the same colour but that would block the light 100%. Then too, I'd have to store the panels in the other seasons. House wrap I could just roll up. I suppose I could put up with seeing the logos on the inside as long as they don't show through to the outside.

If it is open on the top, poly should be fine. You needn't really worry about a vapor barrier unless it is completely closed up and after the winter months. There isn't much moisture in the air right now anyway.

There are several roofing underlayments that are made in the gray range and have really good tear resistance. They are usually Class 1 vapor retarders though so they will be a vapor barrier.

I have never worked with Tyvek, but I would have to assume it has some permeablility to it, otherwise it would trap vapor between the insulation and Tyvek, even with the vapor barrier, which would cause condensation problems.

Yes, supposedly it is a bit like GORE-TEXÂ® in that it breathes yet repels. At one time I had made clear plastic rollup "storm windows" but they deteriorated in short time and were too expensive and labourious to remake. Plastic, UV, and cold do not a good combination make.

I did keep all the hardware and wood from the rollups and I have thought of trying to source the grey tyvek and to try to make cuts that avoided the printing as much as possible to use in place of the plastic that was there before. That is more labourious than simply wrapping one continuous piece all the way around leaving only the door uncovered.

I could also fold it back on itself with double-sided carpet tape so that printed side faces printed side. Sort of a print sandwich if you will.

Tyvek (and several other similar products) is spunbonded polyolefin (sometimes polypropylene) sheeting, whereas GoreTex is a polytetrafluoroethylene membrane. Tyvek works OK for blocking gross air movement, but is highly permeable to both air and water vapor diffusion (greater than 25 perms H2O.)

The UV present in sunlight degrades the strength of polyolefin sheeting- it's not exactly great tent-making material, but it'll last the season. I'm not sure who (if anyone) sells it sans logo.

In my searches, I came across a forum post of a guy that was unsure which side to face outward since his came with no printing. I had to laugh since I'm pretty sure it matters not. Still, to be safe, I would think the manufacturer would have rolled it up so that as it was unrolled, it would naturally face the right way out and that one would not be expected to unroll it and then flip it over. It was an old post and I was not about to join that forum on the off chance the guy was still active there.

I have seen houses with housewrap exposed for years so it's reasonable to assume some degree of UV resistance. There is a lot of low-E stuff coming on the market but some of it doesn't appear to be tyvek. Hard to tell as well from internet pics how shiny it is. Some looks grey but some looks bright and shiny like space blankets.

The stuff won't vaporize after a year or two of exposure to sunlight, but it's tear-resistance won't be NEARLY what it was on day-0. Stapled to a supporting surface like plywood or OSB that's not a huge issue, but tacked to posts it's ability to resist being stripped by the wind will go down over time.

The low-E stuff is usually aluminized polyester or aluminized polyoleifin, more appropriate in very hot climates (I'm a bit surprised they'd even bother to sell it in Ontario!?!) The aluminized polyester stuff is very shiny- bright, but the aluminized polyolefin is typically more of a semi-gloss look. It requires an air-gap on at least one side (preferably both) to have an appreciable thermal effect- more effective under rainscreened/back-ventilated siding than wedged tight between the sheathing and wood or fiber-cement siding. By reflecting most of the heat from sun-baked siding it keeps the sheathing cooler, reducing some of the cooling load, but it's a relatively small effect for insulated walls. (Window gains are already by far the bigger factor for cooling loads.) It has almost no measurable effect on heating loads. But the aluminization reflects rather than absorbs UV, protecting the polymer fibers that give it mechanical strength from sunlight degradation.

But the aluminization reflects rather than absorbs UV, protecting the polymer fibers that give it mechanical strength from sunlight degradation.

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That was my thought as well. I have not looked around for it yet locally or in the region so not sure about availability. So far just internet searches.

My thought for the gazebo is to stretch it between two poles and not staple it to the building. I would form a loop at each end with double-sided carpet tape to slip the poles through. Could also tape the overlap with the specialty tape made for it as it supposedly sticks quite well to the tyvek. The overlap would be on the inside away from exposure.